Caliente, CA

Caliente, CA is located north of Highway 58 between Bakersfield and Tehachapi, Ca. There are signs from the highway for Caliente, just keep an eye out for them. You’ll want to turn on to Bealville Rd. and follow that just a couple of miles and you’ll come to the town site.

Caliente was established in the 1870′s, however at that time it was called Allen’s Camp after a cattle rancher named Gabriel Allen. The town name was changed later to Agua Caliente, which only lasted a short time due to confusion with another town of the same name also in California. In 1875 with the arrival of the railway they shortened the name to just Caliente.

Caliente was never a mining town, it was known more for being a receiving and shipping station. Even before the first train arrived wagons made their way to Caliente filled with merchandise and mining equipment that would be transferred to pack teams headed for the Kern River Gold Camps.

Today the trains still roll through Caliente on their way up through the Tehachapi Mountains. There is a post office that serves the community, and that’s about it. The town site has a number of both vacant and occupied homes. The census lists a population of 1,019 however that number is not in the least bit accurate when it comes to the actual town site of Caliente. I would estimate that the town itself may have a population of 20 people at the most, with the additional 1,000 people living in 35 square mile radius as the post office services a large area.

When visiting Caliente I highly recommend that you continue down Caliente Bodfish Rd. toward Twin Oaks. The ride is breath taking to say the least. Along this route you will come upon numerous abandoned structures including the Amalia Mill which I will get it in a separate posting.

*NOTE* The pictures contained in this gallery are from Caliente as well as Caliente Bodfish Rd.